CROMWELL -- Marc Leishman had just tied his career-best round of 62 on the final day of the Travelers Championship on Sunday. He was tied for the lead with more than two hours of golf remaining.

When asked if it would hold up, he responded "I probably think I'm one or two short and that's the attitude I'm going to have, so I'm not going to be disappointed when or if someone comes in at 15 (under par)."

Leishman watched some of the golf telecast, watched some soccer on TV and even did some practicing on the range.

He was on the putting green above the 18th hole when the last challenger, Roland Thatcher, couldn't hole out from a greenside bunker for birdie. Leishman had won the 2012 Travelers Championship for his first victory on the PGA Tour in one of the more bizarre finishes in the 61-year history of the tournament.

"Waking up this morning, I definitely didn't think I was going to be in this situation, but I'll gladly take it, and I don't know, it's an unbelievable feeling," said Leishman, 28. "It's probably not the way I would have expected to get my first win. But what do you say? You take them when you get them, any way you can."

Leishman is the fifth first-time winner at the Travelers in the last seven years. The win gives him exempt status on the tour through 2014 and also gets him into the PGA Championship in August and the Masters next April.

But this final round was just as much about those who could have, or should have, won this tournament as it was about Leishman's win.

It starts with Charley Hoffman, who actually took the outright lead at 15-under with a birdie at No. 12 as Leishman was meeting with the media following his round. Hoffman two-putted for birdie on the 13th and held a two-shot lead on the 17th tee.

Then Hoffman did the one thing you don't with the lead -- find the water. After a drop, he airmailed his third shot over the green and took three shots to get down from there for a double-bogey 6.

"It's a tough tee shot for me. I wanted to hit a draw down there, but the hole doesn't set up for a draw and I fanned it off to the right," Hoffman said.

He hit his tee shot on 18 to the right too, and bunkered his approach. He failed to get up and down for par, giving Leishman the outright lead.

"What I did on 18 was pretty pathetic," Hoffman said. "Pretty easy drive for me, sets up pretty good, and fanned it out to the right, and pretty poor second shot, pretty poor bunker shot and even worse putt."

Tim Clark stood at 13-under with an eagle putt on the 13th hole -- which he proceeded to putt off the green. He salvaged a par, but couldn't do so on the 17th when he three-putted from in front of the green -- from 20 feet -- resulting in a bogey. Clark tied for fourth, 2 shots behind Leishman.

"I pretty much knew I was going to miss it (a four-footer for par) to be honest with you. I feel like I could have walked away with a win," Clark said. "I managed myself from tee to green. I did the hard part right, but once I got there, I couldn't finish it off. ... Obviously 17, that's like taking a bullet to the head."

Bubba Watson birdied the 13th hole to get to 13-under, but could only par the last five. He hit his drive on the short par-4 15th in the water. He tied for second at 13-under

"I've never played that hole good," said Watson, the 2010 Travelers champion. "If you go back to my history of me playing this golf tournament, I've always hit it in that water."

Thatcher, one of the third-round co-leaders, eagled the 13th and birdied the 17th, but bogeyed the 15th and bunkered his sand-wedge approach shot on 18 and failed to hole the bunker shot.

"It's not surprising that some of these holes can jump up and take you," Thatcher said about holes 15 through 18 at TPC River Highlands.

Leishman probably spoke for all of the contenders when he discussed the final four holes.

"There's four finishing holes on a lot of other golf courses that you'd rather play with a 2-shot lead coming in than the ones here," Leishman said. "There's a lot of trouble if you're not hitting good shots."